0 Minutes 0 Seconds
by dangerdonut
Summary: Everyone is given a watch at birth that counts down to the time they meet their soulmate. Co-op writing by amyraudenfell and dangerdonut.
1. Intro

Part I (by amyraudenfell)

Karma and Amy stood in the middle of their school courtyard, minutes before the bell rang. Karma was frantically pacing back and forth, while Amy was giving her reassuring words.

"I bet you he's better than you ever imagined," Amy said. "I mean, he is your soulmate."

Karma looked nervously at her wrist. 3 minutes. "Oh God, I'm meeting the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with in three minutes."

Amy gave her friend a hug, and let it linger for a little too long. "What if he doesn't like me? What if he laughs in my face and walks away?" Tears were forming at the edge of Karma's eyes and Amy wiped them away. "He'll love you. Everyone loves you. It's impossible not to. I've known you for almost ten years and I've loved you since." Karma smiled at her best friend, and quickly went back to freaking out.

Amy glanced down and saw that the clock was now counting down from one minute. Just then, a handsome young man appeared from the art building and started making his way to Karma. "Maybe it's not him," Amy thought, "Maybe this is a mistake."

30 seconds. He was only a few feet away from them now. It was obvious that he was coming for Karma. Amy started sweating as she came to the realization. "An artist," Amy said to herself. "Karma hates art."

The clock counted down to zero just as he stepped in front of Karma. "Hi, I'm Liam Booker." Karma's eyes met his and everyone could tell they were soul mates. Karma took his hand and walked off, just after giving Amy a huge thumbs up and a smile.

Amy watched and Karma and Liam walked off together, looking like happiest couple ever. Amy rolled her jacket sleeve up to look at her clock that she kept hidden from her best friend. She was fighting back tears as she saw the number there, the number  
>that had been there for the past ten years. It had always been on zero. The second she met Karma the clock stop ticking.<p>

Part II (by dangerdonut)

October 14th, 2034. Twenty years have passed since Karma met Liam in the courtyard. Seventeen years since they've been married. Karma has been content with their marriage, but she has felt like something has been missing ever since Amy moved away.

It was the day after Karma and Liam's wedding. Amy said it was too much for her to stay there, but Karma wasn't sure what she meant. Before Amy left, Karma asked her, "what if your soulmate is here? Your clock hasn't expired yet, has it?" Amy looked at her sadly before she hugged her best friend and left.

It had been thirty years since Amy's clock expired. She wondered how her soulmate could have a different soulmate. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, but it was her reality. She didn't date when she moved out west, she couldn't even try. She had a few flings here and there, but nobody would ever compare to Karma Ashcroft.

October 14th, 2034. The day Liam Booker was arrested. He'd kept his family secret from everyone as long as he could, but eventually, he was the heir to take over the business. But the family business wasn't just Squirkel, no, it was Soulmate Watch Inc too. Ever since the invention 100 some years ago of soulmate watches that are installed into each human unit after birth, the Booker family wanted in. They weren't satisfied with the money brought in from Squirkel - they wanted power too. Especially since their son's watch seemed to be broken.

Poor little Liam had 9 different watches installed to him the first year he was born, but none of them worked. They all just seemed to die the second Liam put them on his wrist. His family was heartbroken. They couldn't believe their son was born without a soulmate. They bought the company and vowed to find a solution.

After a few months of research, they could not find a reason Liam did not have a soulmate. They gave him a fake countdown watch to suffice. A baby Karma Ashcroft was being brought into the world at the same time. They gave her a fake watch, one that matched the same countdown time as Liam's. They were in the same high school district - it was rational they would bump into each other at the same time.

Liam found out when he was 13, but he didn't oppose. He had seen Karma Ashcroft around and became infatuated. He was careful not to bump into her until his countdown watch expired. He occasionally felt guilty he was taking her away from her real soulmate, but he figured he could give her just as good of a life.

October 14th, 2034. The day Karma found out her husband of seventeen years was not her soulmate. The day she found out the last twenty years had been a sham. The day she found out her soulmate was still out there.

The first thing she did was rush to get a real watch. It wasn't very hard - sometimes watches acted up and needed to be replaced. Hers always acted suspiciously perfect. She slapped on the watch, and noticed the countdown timer was at 0. _She had already met her soulmate_.

She racked her brain for every man she's ever met, desperately trying to figure out who was actually the one for her, and why they hadn't told her their clock ran out when they met her. She couldn't figure it out, when suddenly it hit her. _Amy_. Why had she always kept her clock hidden from her? Amy insisted it was because she "wanted to find her soulmate without the help of a watch", but now she wasn't so sure.

After hours of googling, she managed to get a phone number and address of one Amy Raudenfeld living in Los Angeles, California. She called as she desperately gripped the phone harder with every ring. "Hello?" came a matured voice from the other end.

"A-Amy" Karma stuttered.

"Karma?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"I know it's been years, and I know this is crazy, but… Did you find your soulmate yet?"

"Karma.. No," Amy replied sadly.

"Please look at your watch," Karma begged.

"Why?" Amy asked

"Is it at zero? Please Amy, please."

Amy sighed before replying. "It's been at zero for years, Karms."

"How many years?" Karma asked shakily.

"It's been at zero since I met you," Amy reluctantly sighed. "I didn't want to make you feel guilty, I don't know how this happened, but all I ever wanted was for you to be happy."

Karma's end went silent as she dropped the phone. She couldn't believe it. It had been right in front of her all those years. The sleepovers, the hugs that lasted a bit too long, the butterflies she felt whenever Amy said her name, the emptiness she's felt all the years she's been gone.

"Karma? Are you still there?"

"I… I'll see you in a few hours." Karma hung up the phone before packing a bag and rushing to the airport. She booked the first one-way ticket to LA she could find. She boarded the plane and gripped the armrest tightly as it took off, ignoring her fear of heights.

"I'm coming for you Amy," she whispered under her breath. "I'm sorry that it's taken so long."


	2. Karma with an A

Chapter 2: Karma with an A

Amy was a smart kid when she cared enough to understand something. The fact of the matter was she didn't care about this. It all seemed so uninterestingly formulaic. The clock reaches zero, and you're left standing in front of the person you're going to be with for the rest of your life. She had heard the supposedly romantic story too many times. It just seemed so robotic. Then again, meeting your soulmate wasn't one of those things you could anticipate. That undeniable connection that the two of you wouldn't only automatically feel, but establish over the course of your life was something that couldn't be described, no matter how hard Farrah tried.

"You two are going to have so much time to spend together now! This is such a blessing," she rambled on and on for the past few months. "How adorable, your first day of Kindergarten. I bet he's handsome. You two can grow up together. What a blessing!"

Amy couldn't help but cringe when she realized she would have to spend a lot of time with this boy. Even though she knew the "cooties" she had learned about in pre-K that every boy supposedly carried were nothing more than a myth, she couldn't stand to think about what the other kids at school would say when they saw the two of them together. She tried to push it out of her mind for as long as she could, but as the clock counted down, she found this more difficult.

Her mother had insisted on pinning her hair up to make it look nice for her soulmate, as if a five year old cared about anything other than snack time and recess. She squirmed until Farrah more or less gave up. "Oh well," she sighed. "It'll be a mess by the time we're in the car anyways."

In all honestly, Amy was far more worried about her first day of Kindergarten than meeting her soulmate. Even at a young age, being around too many people made her anxious, even if they were just kids. Being in a large crowd overwhelmed her, she felt engulfed by it, like it was going to swallow her whole at any minute. Darkness made her feel the same way, but at least there was an eerie calm to the dark, and it could easily be combated with a night light.

This, however, didn't have such an easy solution. As they parked in the school's lot, Amy's stomach became increasingly more knotted. She noticed her hands were shaking as she unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped down from the car seat. Her mom grabbed her hand as they walked inside. "You must be so excited!"

They entered the building and she looked down at her watch to see how much time was left. This had become like a nervous tick lately. Everyone around her was telling her how important this initial meeting was, and she was afraid she would forget about it and miss it. She couldn't imagine how upset her mother would be. _Two hours, forty-seven minutes, fifty-three seconds_. Plenty of time.

Farrah took Amy to her classroom as she squatted down and hugged her goodbye. "Have a great first day, sweetie," she choked out, noticeable tears in her eyes. "Don't forget, you're going to meet him during _playtime_," she emphasized. "That's when the two kindergarten classes meet. He's in that room right next door," she pointed. Amy turned around and looked to humor her mom. "Don't be nervous, you'll do great." She patted Amy's head as she turned around to leave.

The first two hours went pretty much as Amy expected. A few kids tried to play with her, but she hadn't made the effort to be a good playmate. It ended the same every time: they would get bored, shrug, and walk away to find someone new without even saying goodbye. Amy didn't really mind. She would have rather played by herself than have to entertain someone anyway.

Her teacher started talking, and she zoned out until she heard the word "playtime". She looked at her watch in a panic to ensure it hadn't run down to zero when she wasn't paying attention. _2 minutes 4 seconds_. She was cutting it close. The door to the other classroom swung open and she immediately ran over and inspected the room. She noticed this classroom was nicer than hers. It had much better toys, and it even had a ball pit in the back corner. Momentarily forgetting about her watch, she ran over, climbing the stairs that led to the ball pit before dramatically jumping in. She glanced down at her watch. _7 seconds_.

This had suddenly become very real. Her heart rate increased as she saw a single rustle in front of her. Someone was hiding. _4 seconds_.

She carefully took a step forward. _3 seconds_.

The rustling moved closer to the surface. _2 seconds_.

Two arms popped up, covered in pink long sleeves. _1 second_.

"Boo!" The hiding toddler surfaced with a devilish grin on her face, laughing maniacally at the terrified expression on the face of the girl standing in front of her. She had long auburn hair, hair much too long for a five year old, hair that her mother must have to fuss over every morning. Her piercing hazel eyes met Amy's as she continued to cackle, amused at the elaborate prank she had just pulled. "I scared you so good!"

Amy was confused to say the least. Questions scattered through her brain in no particular order as she tried to organize them. Why was the girl standing in front of her, well, a _girl_? Her mother negated to mention the fact that this was a possibility, though Amy wasn't complaining - she preferred being around girls anyway. The question that really tugged at her, though, was why was the girl standing in front of her wasn't taking the fact that she had just met her soulmate more seriously?

Amy was confused, but she was certain about one thing: she felt an undeniable connection with the girl standing in front of her. She didn't need a watch to tell her that the girl standing in front of her was her soulmate, she _knew_. Farrah's constant ramblings were starting to make sense. Up until this point, she was going through life without her other half, the yin to her yang, the sun to her moon, the pepper to her salt. She couldn't wait to know this girl in front of her. She couldn't wait to grow up and fall in love with her. She couldn't wait to spend the rest of her life with her. But first, she would have to know her name.

"I'm Karma," she squeaked. "With an A, not an N. People always call me Carmen, but my name is Karma," she said decisively, not giving Amy the chance to make that mistake. "What's your name?"

Amy was thrown off by how completely calm Karma was acting. She told Karma her name before glancing down at the watch on Karma's wrist. From a distance, it appeared to be ticking.

"Do you want to be my friend?" Karma asked, raising her eyebrows, patiently awaiting an answer. Amy ignored the question which in and of itself raised a red flag and hastily asked to see Karma's watch.

"Well okay," Karma said, excited that Amy was taking interest in her. "There's a little over ten years left. I'm gonna meet him so early. Or her! My mommy said it could be a her. But most of the time it's a him. But my mommy says, you never know."

Karma's hasty ramble went in one ear and out the other. She was too busy studying her watch. _10 years, 17 days, 1 hour, 2 minutes, 34 seconds_. She glanced back at her own watch. _0 minutes_ _0 seconds_. She was certain Karma was her soulmate, but she did a quick glance around the room to make sure she didn't miss anything, almost out of self-doubt. She was right, though, nobody was in their vicinity, not even close.

"Let me see your watch now!" Karma chirped. She wasn't so much interested in Amy's watch, rather she was interested in Amy, but from the three minutes they had interacted, Amy had seemed pretty interested in the watches, so Karma made an executive decision to take an interest in Amy's interests.

Amy quickly pulled back her hand, shaking her head. She didn't want her to know what had just happened. She wasn't sure what exactly _did_ just happen, but she was certain it was somehow her fault. She felt an overwhelming amount of shame overtake her body, cursing herself for messing up such an important task. She politely told Karma she needed to leave, but assured her she did in fact want to be her friend after Karma insistently asked her four more times. Amy looked sadly behind her as she climbed out of the ball pit, meeting those hazel eyes that she knew deep down were never going to quite be hers.

Amy had never cared about the concept of soulmates until the option of having one was suddenly ripped away from her. She had taken for granted the fact that she had a soulmate, she even sometimes wished that she had never gotten a watch, just to avoid being constantly told what a "blessing" it was that she found her soulmate so early.

It wasn't until she met Karma that she _was_ grateful she found her soulmate so early. It wasn't until she met Karma that she understood that indescribable feeling that Farrah had tried so hard to describe, and it wasn't until she met Karma that this wonderful new feeling was ripped away from her as quickly as it came.

_A/N: Okay, I cracked. I'm going to make this more than a oneshot. The concept is just too good. There's so much to expand on. Not entirely sure where I'm going with this yet, but hopefully it won't disappoint. Sorry about the poor grammar/typos, it's 4 AM and I was feeling inspired._


	3. The Big Bad Bookers

Chapter 3: The Big Bad Bookers

The Bookers were never faced with any problems they couldn't simply buy away. This fact dated back to far before the most popular search engine in the world was invented. Although "Booker" became a household name when Squirkel was founded, their wealth existed for centuries prior. This could all be dated back to Isaac Booker, the man who "inherited" a rather large plantation during the late 18th century through what is now known as identity theft. He went on to become one of the most successful slave traders in the southeast, but that part of history mysteriously has no search results on Squirkel.

Needless to say, the Bookers were not good people. Of course, this didn't stop them from repopulating at an obnoxious rate. Isaac Booker III found Jesus back in 1863, when he discovered all his sins could be forgiven and dissolved at a weekly confession, only to be repeated immediately afterwards. Along with his conversion to Catholicism came an average of eight Bookers per generation, all of whom were taught that it was okay to do bad things, as long as these bad things were confessed to some unknown holy man on a regular basis.

The Bookers took full advantage of this, filling the empty space where their moral conscience should have been with strategies to expand their wealth. Michael Booker struck gold when he took advantage of the next big thing, the world wide web, and invented what would become the world's most popular search engine. His family not only became exponentially more prosperous, but famous as well. This became a problem when Michael's oldest daughter, Robin, only aware of the Catholic school's teaching of "birth control", widely known as abstinence, became pregnant at the age of fifteen.

Fortunately for the Booker's image, Michael's wife still had many childbearing years ahead of her. The solution was quite simple: pull Robin from school until she had the unwanted child, perhaps have her feign a rather severe case of mono, pay off a doctor to keep quiet about the details of the home birth, and pretend the little Booker was another miracle spawned directly from Michael and his wife.

Liam came into the world on November 2nd, 1998, a healthy baby boy with no obvious complications. Robin cried louder than the baby when her father wouldn't allow her to hold him. "This isn't yours," he reminded her. "You could have ruined this family, you shameless slut."

After the Bookers announced their newest addition to the family, their first son that would one day inherit the company, they noticed a problem: the baby-sized watch carelessly latched onto Liam's wrist wasn't responding. "It isn't possible that he already met his soulmate, is it?" one of the nurses asked.

"Don't be ridiculous," Michael scoffed. "It isn't zeroed out. It's just broken."

The next one was broken too. And the next one. And the one after that. It wasn't until the fifth watch that Michael realized it was hopeless, that Liam simply did not respond to his watch. "Stupid pieces of shit," Michael muttered. He squirkeled "unresponsive soulmate watches" only to find a few lackluster theories with nothing close to a solution. Soulmate watches measure and predict the energy levels that spike when a person's soulmate is near. The energy levels are very easy to latch onto, which was why this was such a rare problem. "Great," Michael groaned. "You just keep giving me problems, don't you kid?" Liam responded by chewing on his hand and crying for his ba-ba.

Buying Soulmate Watch Inc. was not too difficult - the multi-million dollar corporation was a grain of sand on the beach now owned by Squirkel. He hired dozens of researchers and spent endless amounts of money trying to solve the problem of unresponsive soulmate watches. It wasn't so much he cared about his son finding his true love, in fact, he couldn't care less about Liam as long as he wasn't ruining the family image. But that was the problem - if he didn't get his watch to start working, he _would_ ruin the family image. Rumors would spread about the sociopath in the Booker family, the boy without a soulmate, the boy incapable of love. Without their image, they would no longer have power, just wealth, and that was a world Michael was not ready to live in.

After a few months of research, Michael gave up hope. His plan B wasn't foolproof, but he had no other choice. He assembled his team of researchers to make two very realistic fake watches, both with adjustable sizing that were _never_ to break or need replacement. He gave the first one to his son, and the second one to a little girl being born at the hospital down the road.

Michael had done extensive research on the Ashcroft family. They had extended family in Austin, so they were unlikely to move. They lived in the Hester school district, so Liam would meet the Ashcroft's daughter in high school. Best of all, they were die-hard liberals, meaning when Liam inevitably married this yet to be born girl, the Bookers would get to add "environmentally conscious" to their reputation.

Karma Ashcroft was born on February 9th, 1999. When her parents ordered her watch, they were sent the second fake, the time precisely synced up with Liam's watch. Her parents smiled when they saw the time was just over 15 years. "Oh, look at that, Lucas!" Karma's mother chimed. "She's meeting her soulmate so early. What a blessing!"

Karma wouldn't get a real watch for thirty-five more years.


	4. Nightmares

Chapter 4 - Nightmares

It was a fairly quiet ride home, nothing that would be too out of the ordinary in any other circumstance, Amy had been a quiet kid ever since the accident, but after today's events, Farrah expected her daughter to be a little more responsive.

"Sweetie, talk to me. I thought you would be more excited," Farrah prompted the tiny blonde girl in her rearview mirror only to be met with silence. "Do you not like him yet?" Amy continued to chew on her thumb, eyelids half shut from today's exhausting events. If Amy's father was still here, he would tell Farrah to stop pushing her. _She's only five_, he would say. _She's tired and she doesn't understand. _Amy made up for her father's absence by saying this in fewer words - actually, no words, because after being met with silence for the entire drive, Farrah decided she would try again later. She carried Amy upstairs and tucked her into bed, whispering that they could talk when she woke up from her nap.

As soon as Farrah shut the door, Amy began pulling at her watch. They were not designed to be easily removed by children, but Amy had seen how her mother took her watch off before bath time. She subconsciously kept that skill buried in the back of her mind, as if it was a paranoid backup plan that she never thought she would a reason to use. Even at five, Amy had anxiety through the roof. _The death of a parent causes children to grow up too fast_, she overheard her doctor tell her mother no more than three months ago. _But she's only five_, Farrah sobbed. _It doesn't matter, _he continued. _The nightmares will last for a long time._

The nightmares were always the same. She sat in her carseat, screaming for her father to stop for a treat. _I'm so hungry_, Amy wailed. _I want a candy bar_. Her father was at his wits end. He had to drop out of college to work extra hours at a lousy paying job to cover the expenses of a kid he accidentally had with a woman who wasn't even his soulmate. Amy didn't know any of this, nor would she understand it, she had only just turned five. All she knew is that she wanted a candy bar.

"Oh, just pull into that gas station," Farrah ordered. "She didn't have enough to eat for lunch. We need gas anyways."

Her father blindly pulled in, prompting Farrah to take Amy inside to get her treat. The nightmares always turned around this point. Amy would happily take her Crunch bar up to the counter, only to hear a loud bang and screaming from the parking lot seconds later. She heard screaming, but she still tugged at her mother to buy her candy bar first, crying when her mother ran towards the parking lot instead. This haunted her. She didn't think anything of it, she just wanted her candy bar.

_Selfish_. She had first heard the word on the Teletubbies, when Dipsy wouldn't share his toys with La-La. She laughed when Po snuck in to steal his toys while he was sleeping to give to La-La. Dipsy was upset when he woke up. _Serves him right_, Amy thought. Po lectured Dipsy. If he had just shared his toys with La-La, he would still have something to play with. _What goes around, comes around_, Tinky Winky snickered.

She didn't know what had just happened in the parking lot on the day of the accident, but she _knew _in her nightmares, but she _still_ begged for the candy bar, physically attempting to pull her mother to the counter. "_Amy_," Farrah scolded. "Someone could be in trouble, don't be so _selfish_." It was too late, though. Nothing could have saved him. He was gone before the first scream had reached her ears. Her father was gone, and it was all because she wanted a candy bar.

Amy had never said out loud that she felt guilty for what happened to her father, she wasn't even sure if she could put in words what she felt, but Farrah knew. It was an awful burden for a child so young to carry. "It isn't your fault, Amy," her psychologist would tell her during their tri-weekly sessions. Every session had the same message: sometimes bad things happen, but you can't blame yourself. Of course, that didn't stop the nightmares fueled by guilt, not even close.

A few muffled sobs later, Amy finally managed to rip her watch off her wrist. She buried the problem-causing watch under some junk in her nightstand drawer. She stared out her window and noticed a truck moving furniture into the house across the street. The new neighbors had been moving in for over a week now, but she had yet to catch a glimpse of them until today. She opened her window to eavesdrop on the excited new couple.

"I'm so glad we finally got out of that old, cramped house, Lucas. It was too small for two kids. I can't believe we waited so long to move."

"It's not about the size of the house, Molly," Lucas reminded her. "It's about the love that fills it."

"You're so right, dear," Molly glanced up. "With little Zen and Karma, there's almost too much love to go around!"

Amy's stomach clenched when she heard the name Karma. _It could be a different Karma_, she thought. This hope was shattered when she saw two children excitedly run out the front door. One was a little asian boy, about eight or nine, the other was the same auburn-haired girl she had met in the ball pit.

"Mom!" Amy screamed. It was too much, too much was happening, she couldn't bury this any longer. "Mom!"

"What is it dear?" Farrah barged into her room. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Amy pointed out the window towards the new neighbors' house. "I know them," she said with a shaky voice. "I met her today."

Farrah was unsure why this was making Amy upset, but lately, everything was making Amy upset, so she decided to ask follow up questions in hopes to calm her down. "Is she your friend?"

"No," Amy nervously fiddled with her hands. "Kind of."

"What's her name, sweetie?"

"Karma," Amy glanced down at the other five year old who was chasing her brother across the lawn.

"Oh, well that's an interesting name," Farrah chimed, hoping that meaningless small talk would help calm her daughter.

"Why?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Amy. It's like karma, that old saying."

"What old saying?"

"What goes around, comes around."


End file.
